Radio Station Cancels a Show After Complaints of Indecency

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Published: August 23, 2002

A popular afternoon radio show was canceled yesterday by WNEW-FM, hours after federal regulators ordered an investigation into complaints that the show's hosts broadcast a live eyewitness account of a couple having sex in the vestibule of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

A Virginia couple and the witness were charged with public lewdness and acting in concert in the incident, which the police said was broadcast live on Aug. 15, on the Roman Catholic Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, during the late afternoon. The broadcast, part of a contest in which the show encouraged people to have sex in public places, prompted widespread outrage.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights filed an indecency complaint against the station with the Federal Communications Commission and asked the agency to revoke its license, citing previous fines for earlier indecent broadcasts.

William A. Donohue, the league's president, wrote in the complaint, ''We feel the broadcaster reporting sexual intercourse live on the air in a very busy Catholic cathedral more than satisfies your requirement that an incident appeals to prurient interest.''

Yesterday afternoon, the F.C.C.'s chairman, Michael K. Powell, announced the start of an investigation. He said in a statement that he was ''deeply disturbed'' about the reports.

WNEW-FM (102.7) issued a one-sentence statement later in the day. It said, ''Based on recent events, 'The Opie and Anthony Show' has been canceled and will be replaced by other programming beginning tomorrow.''

WNEW is part of Infinity Broadcasting, which owns 183 stations nationwide and is a division of the media giant Viacom. Dana McClintock, a vice president for Infinity, said the company had been in contact with the league and other Catholic organizations, as well as the F.C.C.

The show was broadcast in several other markets outside New York City. The hosts, Gregg Hughes, who is known as Opie, and Anthony Cumia, were taken off the air a day after the broadcast, and the station had been broadcasting reruns.

Last night, Mr. Donohue called the station's decision ''a victory for the American people, and not just Catholics.''

He said he would petition the F.C.C. to end the investigation and withdraw the Catholic League's request for a license revocation.